Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of hydroxylamine for monitoring the metabolic hydrolysis of metalloprotease inhibitors in rat and human liver microsomes.

A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method was developed for the analysis of hydroxylamine (HA) in supernatants obtained from liver microsomes. HA monitoring was used to determine the metabolic hydrolysis of two hydroxamic acid-based matrix metalloprotease inhibitors in rat and human liver microsomes. The hydrolysis of the hydroxamic acids to their corresponding carboxylic acids releases HA as a common metabolic product. HA was derivatized to acetone oxime by addition of acetone to the liver microsomal supernatant, followed by direct injection of the supernatant into the GC-MS, with detection of the oxime by selected-ion-monitoring. The method is simple, reproducible, and sensitive for the determination of the hydrolysis of hydroxamic acid compounds, where hydrolysis is the major metabolic pathway. The methodology can be used for rank ordering and selecting hydroxamic acid analogs based on their susceptibility to hydrolysis.